


learn to give and learn to take

by n3s0



Series: Dream SMP Sickfics [2]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Also Wilbur isn't planning on blowing up Manberg in this!, Delirium, Doctor Ponk, Dream Smp, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Dynamics, Gen, Pogtopia, Sickfic, Swearing, he's not insane in this lol, if that makes sense, its literally his description on the wiki lol, since people seem to forget the Ponk is straight up the doctor on the server, sleepy bois inc - Freeform, this isn't set IRL instead its like realistic minecraft for the Dream SMP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:00:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27681085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n3s0/pseuds/n3s0
Summary: So what if he wasn't feeling great? So what if being stuck inside a ravine almost 24/7 made him lose track of the days? Techno made practically all of their food and was almost never in Pogtopia anyways, Wilbur did so much for them and recently he's been so on edge that Tommy's nervous to mention it, Tubbo's had a pretty stressful week with the festival, and Quackity was his enemy less than 72 hours ago. So he sucked it up and dealt with it himself, like the big man he is.Only it's a little hard to "suck up" being severely sickorTommy's sick and everyone's too busy to notice until it's almost too late.
Relationships: ALL PLATONIC, Alexis | Quackity & TommyInnit, Dave | Technoblade & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Tommyinnit & Wilbur Soot, Tommyinnit & Wilbur Soot & Technoblade
Series: Dream SMP Sickfics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2113386
Comments: 57
Kudos: 1620
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	1. giving

**Author's Note:**

> If any of the creators in this story express that they're uncomfortable with fanfiction, please lmk and this will be taken down!

Ever since Techno got his trident Tommy feels like it rained on the server more, just to make Techno seem even cooler. He wouldn't be surprised if Techno did have some influence on the weather, his brother always had some kind of trick up his sleeve that made Tommy feel like he barely knew the man he grew up with. Not to mention the fact that he couldn't remember the last time he had seen Techno in Pogtopia. The piglin hybrid was online almost always, Tommy's communicator showed that much, but he almost never saw Techno. When he did, he was replanting the massive potato farm in their ravine and would leave shortly after. Not that Tommy wasn't thankful for that! Techno produced almost all the food that supplied Pogtopia, the only other person who gathered food was Niki who made them bread when she could. 

Who made the food was beside the point, the point was it was raining cats and dogs and other miscellaneous mobs and it was pissing Tommy off. It was barely even noon but it looked near dusk with how dark the sky was. He'd left early in the day to gather wood, hoping to get done collecting before noon and have all day to work on replacing the support beams in Pogtopia. He doubts Wilbur made them with the intention of being in Pogtopia this long, so they worked for the first few weeks, but the damp air of the cave was rotting the wood and it desperately needed to be replaced. So here he was, in the pouring rain, with a few stacks of oak wood in his inventory and not even a fucking jacket. And of course, his luck was that it only just started to lighten up the second he gets to the dirt door of Pogtopia.

Grumbling to himself as he shovels the dirt away and steps inside, he can hear chatter further into the cave. Closing the entrance back up he walks down the narrow spiral stairs (if you could even call them that) and starts hearing the conversation below.

"-I'm trying!" That was Quackity. 

"Well try harder!" And that was Wilbur. And neither of them sounded happy. Hurrying his way down the rest of the stairs, and nearly slipping, Tommy reaches the landing and sees the two of them standing in the middle of the ravine, anger evident on their faces. 

"That's the stupidest shit you could've told me, Wilbur. Sorry, let me just think harder!" Quackity snaps back and Tommy goes down the remaining stairs two at a time.

"What's going on?" Tommy asks as he reaches the bottom of the ravine and the two men snapped their heads towards him.

"Stay out of it, Tommy!" "Not now, Tommy!" They both snap and turn back to each other. The yells sting, but they're both obviously upset so he tries not to let it upset him.

"I told you that you had till Friday to get rid of him, and guess what day it is Quackity! You've got till tonight to get me a plan, or I'm taking matters into my own hands!" Wilbur growls and turns to walk up the stairs but Tommy grabs his wrist before he can walk away.

"Com'on boys let's talk this out," he tries to start but Wilbur snatches his hand away violently.

"I told you to stay out of it Tommy," Wilbur snaps and walks away. Quackity and Tommy stand there, the only noise is the sound of Wilburs boots clacking on the stairs until they hear the dirt being shoveled away, replaced, and then silence. They stand there for a moment more before Tommy laughs nervously.

"That could've gone better," he tries joking but Quackity just pinches the bridge of his nose.

"You're telling me," he sighs, "where've you been all morning?" 

"I was out collecting wood," Tommy opens his inventory and Quackity gives a quiet whistle. 

"That explains why you skipped breakfast, must've taken all morning to get this much," Quackity glances at him and furrows his brows, "was it raining?"

"Absolutely fucking pouring," Tommy complains and begins pulling the wood out of inventory and into the crafting table next to him, "you mind helping me craft some more fences? The support beams in here need replacing." 

"I can't man, I'm sorry, if I don't get Wilbur a concrete plan by tonight I think he might actually kill me," Quackity says in a voice a little too seriously for Tommy to not tense at the idea of Wilbur killing him. 

"Totally understandable, I can get it done just myself, it just would've gone faster with two of us," Tommy sighs as he looks at just how extensive the rotting in the wood is, "I better get started, the last thing we need is the fucking cave collapsing." Quackity winced at the idea and glances at Tommy's soaking t-shirt and cargo pants.

"You should change out of your wet clothes first, Tommy," he suggests quietly and Tommy laughs bitterly.

"I don't know what kind of high life you were living in Manberg, Big Q, but we don't exactly have a dryer in Pogtopia and the only other clothes I've got are some jeans," Tommy shrugs and grabs the fences from the crafting table, "I'm not gonna bother changing my pants if my top is still dripping wet." 

"Alright, not my fault if you catch a cold," Quackity jokes and Tommy flips him off before he leaves into the small room he claimed for himself when he switched sides. Tommy makes his way to the top of the staircase, starting with the most damaged braces at the top before moving to the sturdier ones at the bottom. He meticulously repaired the beams for who knows how long, only stopping to go grab more wood that he left at the bottom of the ravine or to craft more fences. The lack of sun in the ravine didn't help the way he got lost in the monotonous work of placing and repeating support beams, climbing down the stairs, crafting more, climbing back up, and starting the routine over. 

"Tommy!" Tubbo's voice cuts through his focus and he glances from the beam he was perched on to the bottom of the stairs where Tubbo stood. 

"What's up, big man?" Tommy asks, clearing his voice when he hears just how raspy he sounds.

"I've been calling at you for like five minutes, man, what are you doing?" Tubbo asks with concern lacing his voice. 

"I'm fixing up the support beams," Tommy says like it isn't obvious and Tubbo rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, I can see that, I mean why have you been doing it for almost 7 hours now?" Tommy nearly falls off the beam at that. 7 hours? "Yes, 7 hours!" Tubbo calls from below and Tommy realizes he must've said that out loud. 

"Well if I don't get it done, it's not gonna get done," Tommy snaps and he thinks he should feel worse about snapping at Tubbo but he's too tired to care, "Techno and Wilbur are off doing whatever, Quackity's working on a plan, and you're kind of going through your own thing right now Big T so I wasn't about to ask you to help."

"Tommy the festival was weeks ago," it was? Living in a hole didn't help with his sense of time, "I'm okay to do things now. I can help!" 

"Tubbo!" Quackity calls from within one of the rooms, "you said you're free?" Tubbo glances at Tommy anxiously.

"Uh, it depends, what do you need?" Tubbo calls back into the room.

"You were Schlatt's right hand, I think you'd have some useful insight on how to bring him down," Quackity says and Tubbo looks between the doorway and Tommy, who's still perched on the beam.

"Go help him, Big T," Tommy waves him off, "you two were the closest to him, if anyone can come up with a plan, it's you and Big Q." They share a small smile before Tubbo nods and ducks into Quackity's room, leaving Tommy alone once more. 

The break in his routine made Tommy realize the loud growl from his stomach. Considering it's some time around 7 pm and he skipped breakfast as well and didn't get lunch, he hops off the beam and heads down the stairs to Techno's potato farm. 

The air in the potato farm is the only semi-fresh air in the entire ravine, thanks to the crops, and it brings some relief to the headache Tommy didn't realize he had until now. He stumbles to the chest in the corner of the farmer and grabs one of the baked potatoes from within. Closing the chest and leaning on it heavily, he stares at the potato in his hands. While he was starving just a minute ago, and he knows he hasn't eaten all day, the sight of the food makes him feel a bit nauseous. 

"You're starin' at the potato like it's gonna kill you, Tommy," Techno's monotone voice snaps him out of his trance. He didn't even notice Techno was at the farm.

"When did you get here?" He asks and Techno raises an eyebrow at him.

"I literally said hi to you when you were working on the support beams a few hours ago," he says, confusion in his voice and concern just barely audible. 

"Oh," Tommy mumbles and forces himself to take a bit of the potato. It tastes exactly like all the other potatoes have for the past months they've been in the cave, and it makes Tommy feel sick. He swallows the bite, holding back a gag, and pushes himself off the chest. Techno gives him a quizzical look and opens his mouth like he's going to say something, but the snap from his shovel grabs his attention.

"You've got to be joking," he growls to himself and picks up the pieces of the handle that snapped, "Tommy could you make me another one if you're not busy?" And Tommy so desperately wanted to say he was busy, because his head was really starting to hurt now and his stomach was still rolling from the bite of potato he had and he just point-blank felt like shit. But he was standing in the only farm they had, talking to the only person on their side constantly making them food, and while he'd never say it out loud Tommy would give everything to help his brothers, so he nods silently and leaves to get materials for a new shovel. It's poorly made, but at least it's iron, and as quickly as he left Tommy returns and gives Techno the new one. 

"Thanks, Toms," Techno gives him a small smile and it made it all worth it in Tommy's mind. 

"Of course, big man, any time," Tommy gives him a thumbs up before turning to leave.

"Are you going back to fixin' the beams?" Techno questions and Tommy shakes his head before realizing Techno wasn't looking at him.

"No, I'm going to bed," at that, Techno looks at him with visible concern.

"It's not even 8, isn't that a little early for you?" Techno questions and Tommy doesn't bother to respond, only shrugging and leaving the room to head for his own.

He 'room' barely constitutes as one, if he's being honest. It was stone walls, a bed, and an ender chest. The blanket on his bed was thin and did nothing to block out the ever-present chill in the cave, and the stone walls of the entire ravine echoed even the quietest of coughs in the night. Laying down and curling in on himself to conserve heat, he tossed and turned all night. His body ached from what he assumed was the labor of repeating the support beams, thought he didn't think it was intensive enough to make him sore all over, and his headache was developing into a full-blown migraine. 

"Tommy, get up, I'm not asking again," Wilbur calls from the doorway and Tommy squints his eyes open. Since when did he fall asleep?

"Wil?" He asks quietly, his voice way too raspy to brush off as only morning voice. Wilbur's eyes soften for only a moment before a voice from out in the ravine makes his brow furrow once more.

"Are we just gonna stand around all day?" He snaps into the ravine and the echo makes Tommy's skull pound.

"Quiet down, will you?" He mumbles and Wilbur turns his attention back to Tommy.

"Are you feeling alright? If you're not I can get the netherite myself," Wilbur asks, and if Tommy wasn't so exhausted maybe he would've heard the concern in Wilbur's voice, rather than focusing on the second part of that statement. 

"No, no, I'm okay I can get it," Tommy mumbles and pulls himself out of bed. His whole body hurt, his head felt like someone set off a bomb in his brain and his throat felt like he drank lava, but he'd just have to suck it up. Wilbur had been on edge since the festival, and apparently, that was weeks ago, so Tommy can't remember the last time he saw Wilbur relax. If he could take one small responsibility off Wilbur's shoulders, he'd put up with a headache. "What are we getting netherite for, again?" 

"Quackity's plan, I can brief you on it once you get back from the nether," Wilbur informs, "There's about an inventory's worth of beds in the chest by the portal, see how much you can get with that, and then we'll go from there." 

"Okay," Tommy nods and Wilbur gives him one last concerned look before Quackity calls him off further down the ravine. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Tommy's vision fuzzes over for a moment as he steadies himself. _Maybe you aren't well enough to do this_ , a voice that sounds suspiciously like Tubbo pushes in the back of his mind, but he brushes it off and finally gets out of bed. He fell asleep in his damp cargo pants and t-shirt from earlier, and they clung awkwardly to his body, so he changed into his only spare pair of jeans and snuck towards Wilbur's room. Folded on top of one of the chests was a plain black t-shirt that Tommy changed into quickly, leaving his classic red t-shirt on the ground, before making his way towards the nether portal. 

"Tommy!" A voice called behind him and he turned slowly to come face to face with Niki, who was holding a basket in her arms, "Tubbo told me you didn't eat much yesterday, take some." She holds the basket out and the smell of fresh bread, while normally comforting, makes his stomach roll. He looks up to decline the offer but the look on Niki's face reads "I'll shove this down your throat if you don't eat it" so he chuckles nervously and takes a loaf.

"Thanks, Niki," Tommy gives her a small smile and takes a few bites of the loaf before putting it in his inventory for later.

"Be careful, and please use the armor Quackity put in there, and remember to come back to drink some water!" Niki reminded as he opened the chest by the portal, put on the armor, and stashed the beds in his inventory. The armor, while only iron, weighed on him like netherite. It pushed against his already sore shoulders and neck and he almost turned to ask Niki where Wilbur was, to say that he couldn't do it. And then he remembered how Niki and Tubbo were dealing with so much trauma from their time under Schlatt, how Wilbur's been so on edge for weeks, how Techno is always either grinding for materials for Pogtopia or farming for their food source, and how Quackity's only been here for 3 days and has already come up with a plan to take down Schlatt. So he sucked it up because he was a big man who could pull his own weight around here. 

The trip through the portal made him fall to his knees. Already nauseous from just a few bites of bread, dimension traveling doubled the feeling and it took all of his willpower not to rip his helmet off and throw up into the lava lake below. But he powered on, going down the strip mine that Wilbur or Techno had already started and placing beds every chunk. He'd place a few, blow them up, search for and collect what netherite he could find, and repeat. Just like his routine with the support beams the day before, the routine was monotonous but the hours flew by. To his surprise, he didn't feel the sickly dry heat that always came with the nether. If anything, he was cold. The voice that sounds like Tubbo in the back of his head whispered how _maybe that's not a good sign_ , but it was quiet enough the popping of lava and booms of explosions covered it up. 

Mining forward into a new chunk and opening his inventory to repeat his routine, he realizes his inventory is empty. He blew through 35 beds in what he thought was 1, maybe 2 hours, but once he glanced back down the strip mine he realized he must've been in the nether for at least 5 hours. With the explosions now over with, the Tubbo voice was much louder, along with a ringing in his ears. _You're not okay_ , his mind whispered, _get Wilbur. Get Techno. Get help, get somebody._ The pause in the explosions also let him take a tally of just how terrible he felt. His head was swimming, and he was leaning again the nether-rack heavily. His shoulder and neck ached and his entire body shook like a leaf, not to mention the thin sheen of sweat all over his body even though he was freezing. 

_He was freezing in the nether_. That was the realization that finally made it click that he was very, very sick and at least 500 blocks away from the portal. 

"Really fucked yourself over this time, Tommy," he mumbles to himself and pats his jean pockets for his communicator. It takes him at least 5 pats on each pocket to realize he left his communicator in his cargo pants, which he changed out of just that morning. Great, now not only was he 500 blocks away from any kind of help but he couldn't even message one of his brothers to come save his ass for the millionth time. 

"Be a big man and help yourself," he tries to encourage himself as he starts the slow walk back to the portal. Every chunk he has to stop and lean against the wall and with each chunk, he felt worse and worse. His whole body ached now and he couldn't see straight and by the time he was close enough to hear the portal and felt like giving up. But he had a full set of their iron armor and nearly 20 ancient debris, so he pushed himself through the last chunk and into the portal. 

His arrival through the portal was less than graceful. Stumbling out and leaning against the wall, he puts his hands on his knees and tries not to pass out as he hears bickering further down the ravine. But in Pogtopia there was always fighting, it was just a matter of who, so he goes through the nearly impossible of lifting his head up to see who it was. 

Almost everyone was there, standing in a group. Niki had her arms crossed and was glaring at everyone, Techno was giving Wilbur a look that could kill and Wilbur was shouting something at him, as Tubbo and Quackity were looking between the two brothers and occasionally yelling something as well. Tommy stared at them for a moment longer before Techno glances over Wilbur's shoulder and makes eye contact with him. His eyes blow wide as he pushes Wilbur to the side and runs towards Tommy, the last thing he hears is Techno shouting his name before the world goes dark. 


	2. taking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that this is a minor canon divergence where Wilbur isn't going insane or planning on blowing up Manberg, Techno isn't siding with Pogtopia only for anarchy but because of his brothers, and this is set well before November 16th.

He was being shaken. No, that wasn't right, carried? Honestly, Tommy couldn't tell what was going on, all he knew was that his body ached all over and he was freezing and his head felt like it was splitting apart. He tries to lean up but the arms around him tighten. Since when were there arms around him, wasn't he in the Nether?

"Shh, hey Toms, I've got you," someone whispered and there was another particularly harsh shake which caused him to groan. "Techno try not to hit bumps."

"Trying, Wilbur," another voice says sharply and Tommy cracks his eyes open finally. They're in a forest, somehow, and Wilbur's leaning over him and holding him tightly. 

"Wilb'r?" Tommy's throat is so dry it feels like it's cracked and his mouth isn't moving the way he wants it to, "where...?" 

"We're getting help, Tommy," Wilbur brushes his sweaty bangs off of his face and he leans into the cool hand. Wilbur's eyes are filled with guilt and Tommy only just now realizes he's crying.

"Why'r you crying?" He mumbles and tries to lift a hand up to brush away the tears but his hand barely lifts from where it rests on his stomach. Wilbur just gives him a tight smile.

"How much farther," Wilbur glances up again and Tommy follows his gaze to Techno's back. He doesn't hear what Techno responds with, too focused on trying to figure out what position he was in. He's pressed between Wilbur's front and Techno's back. Tilting his head to the side, he can finally see that they're on one of Techno's horses. Carl, he thinks, but he can't really remember. The hand under his arms presses against his cheek and turns his head back up. "Hey, can you keep your eyes on me?" Wilbur asks softly and Tommy's vision swims as he stares at Wilbur. "Tommy?" But Tommy gives no response, simply staring up at Wilbur with cloudy eyes. "Techno-" 

"Almost there," Techno replies sharpy and urges the horse to go faster. In the tight embrace of his brother, Tommy can't help but let the rocking motion of riding horseback lull him to sleep. He feels Wilbur nudge his head, Techno yells something at him, but he can't help and drift back into the darkness that keeps his migraine away.

\---

The brothers didn't exactly think their plan through, only scooping Tommy up and hopping on Techno's fastest horse in the direction of Ponk's house, so they considered it a stroke of luck that Ponk was even home. Techno practically throws the door open, Wilbur right behind him with Tommy in his arms, and Ponk almost drops the potions he was making.

"Could've called ahead," he grumbles, instantly recognizing a patient when he sees one.

"We didn't have time," Techno grinds out and Ponk walks over casually.

"What happened? Did he just tire himself out?" Ponk questions. It wasn't unusual for Tommy to find his way to Ponk's infirmary, more often than not the boy simply wore himself to the point of exhaustion. The fierce look in both of the brothers' eyes makes Ponk reconsider the severity of the situation, however.

"He's eaten maybe a baked potato and a loaf of bread in the past two days, did physical labor all day yesterday and was in the Nether for almost 5 hours straight today," Wilbur snaps and Ponk definitely was wrong about the severity, "he passed out about 5 minutes ago and keeps waking up in various states of delirium." 

"Take him upstairs and lay him on the bed," Ponk orders and Wilbur complies hastily, "Techno grab 2 healing potions from that cabinet over there, and fill a couple of empty bottles with water," Techno nods and darts to the cabinets Ponk pointed to while Ponk himself hurries after Wilbur upstairs. 

Tommy's already been laid out on the bed and in the proper lighting of the infirmary, it's clear just how sick the boy looks. He's almost as pale as the bedsheets, his face sunken and clammy, and his hair and clothes plastered to his skin. Wilbur's already pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and was anxiously rubbing circles on the back of Tommy's hand. Ponk decides against questioning the guilty look on Wilbur's face and instead gets to work, putting his questions aside for later as Techno comes upstairs with the supplies.

After hooking up an IV and wrapping ice packs on Tommy's neck and under his arms, Ponk focuses his attention on the brothers. 

"There's not much we can do while he's asleep," Ponk hears Techno curse under his breath, "I've got him hooked up to an IV to get him hydrated, along with some pain meds and nutrients, and the ice packs will help with the heatstroke-"

"Heatstroke?!" Wilbur asks incredulously and Ponk resists the urge to roll his eyes.

"Yes, heatstroke," he snaps back, "his temperature was 40 degrees. You said it yourself, he was in the Nether for 5 hours, and just from his veins, I can tell he hasn't had any water in days. I think he might be sick on top of that, but I have no way of knowing until he wakes up. At the least, he's suffering from heatstroke and severe dehydration. I'll know more once he wakes up." Ponk sets one of the healing potions and two of the water bottles on the table next to where Wilbur sat. "I have to meet with Schlatt for a business deal, I don't know when I'll be back, but he's stable enough that the two of you can take care of him. Make him drink that whole health potion when he wakes up, and try to get him to drink at least one of those water bottles by the end of the day. He's probably going to be confused and delirious, so just keep him calm and keep him in bed," Ponk grabs a few papers from the corner of the room and gives the brothers a thumbs up, "I've got my communicator on me, call if he doesn't wake up in 2 hours or if some weird shit happens."

"What does "weird shit" mean exactly?" Wilbur asks as Techno pulls up another chair on the other side of the bed.

"I dunno, he starts screaming or something?" Ponk shrugs and Techno raises an eyebrow at him.

"How are you a doctor?" He mumbles and Ponk gives him another thumbs up before leaving without giving an answer. The two are left in silence once more, staring down at Tommy.

"I don't know how comfortable I feel leaving Tommy's health in the hands of the guy who can't even answer how he's a doctor," Wilbur jokes.

"We wouldn't have to leave him in the hands of anyone if we just kept him safe ourselves," Techno snaps, and Wilbur stares at him with hurt eyes. Techno pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs, "Sorry, Wil. Sorry." 

"No, you're right," Wilbur sighs and pulls his hand from Tommy's to rub his eyes. There's a pressure behind them that's been there since he saw Tommy collapse out of the portal.

"I saw him yesterday, he looked like he wanted to throw up after eating a bite of food," Techno mumbles, "I knew he was acting weird but... I don't know. I didn't think much of it. I didn't think he was this bad."

"He was acting weird this morning too," Wilbur adds, "I shouldn't have let him go to the Nether when I knew he wasn't feeling well, I just don't know why he went anyway when he was feeling like this."

"Because he's Tommy," Techno takes Tommy's hand and repeats the rubbing motion Wilbur was doing moments before. "He would do anything to make you happy, Wilbur, you know that." The hand in Techno's tightens slightly, causing Techno to jump and snap his eyes away from Wilbur down to Tommy's face, which is now scrunched in pain. "Tommy?" Techno pushes Tommy's bangs from his face and Tommy leans into the touch slightly.

"Tech?" Tommy mumbles and his eyes crack open ever so slightly, wincing at the lights above him. Wilbur leans back and grabs the health potion while Techno continues running a hand through Tommy's hair.

"Hey, Toms," Techno says quietly and he knows his brother well enough to recognize how on edge Tommy is as his eyes dart around the room, "we're at Ponk's tower right now."

"Why?" Tommy rasps out and Wilbur shoots Techno a nervous glance from the side.

"You're pretty sick, Tommy, how do you feel?" Wilbur puts a hand on Tommy's shoulder and Tommy jumps, seeming to only just realize that Wilbur was there. 

"Wil?" Tommy croaks out again and Wilbur uncorks the health potion. 

"Yeah, it's me Toms," Wilbur swirls the potion, "can you drink this for me?" Tommy nods slightly and Wilbur takes it as a go-ahead to put the potion to Tommy's mouth and tilt it back. Tommy takes barely three sips before closing his mouth. "You've got to drink all of it, doctors orders," Tommy simply shakes his head, a quiet whine escaping him.

"Y'don't need to waste it on me," he mumbles and the brothers' eyes lock to each other in shock. Was this really how Tommy felt about himself or was this the cold talking?

"Tommy it's not goin' to waste, you need it," Techno reassures, gripping his hand tighter, but Tommy shakes his head again. 

"I'm feelin' alright, Big man," Tommy attempts to convince them but the slur to his words gives the lie away. 

"Tommy please, for me," Wilbur insists, and Tommy thinks for a moment before sighing. His eyes, cloudy and slightly wet, slide to the potion in Wilbur's grasp and he grabs it. Using shaking hands to bring it to his mouth, he slams the rest of the potion and lets his hand drop into his lap with the empty glass. 

"Tommy!" The two brothers shout in shock as Tommy starts coughing violently. Techno grabs the glass out of his lap and sets it on the table as Wilbur stands and leans over Tommy to rub his back as coughs continue to wrack Tommy's body. 

" 'm sorry," he slurs and Wilbur sighs.

"What was that about?" He asks and while he thought he only sounded confused, annoyance must have snuck into his voice as tears start welling in Tommy's eyes. Techno shoots him a glare before grabbing Tommy's hand once more.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Techno asks quietly and Tommy just shakes his head.

" 'm sorry, I tried to help but I just fucked it up," Tommy's shaking at this point, and Techno wonders if this qualifies as "weird shit" to call Ponk about. Instead, Techno pulls himself off of his seat and onto the edge of Tommy's bed, scooping Tommy into his arms. Tommy slowly lifts his arms off his lap and wraps them around Techno's torso. 

"What are you talking about?" Techno asks and Tommy burrows his head further into Techno's white tunic.

"The cave was fallin' apart and I jus' wanted to fix it so I tried to get wood but it was raining," Tommy starts, words slurring and small sobs breaking up his words, "and Wilbur and Big Q were upset and I jus' wanted to fix things, so I spent all day fixing them but I just got myself sick and you were working on your farm, Tech, I didn't want to bother you," Wilbur's joined them on the other side of the bed now, tucked awkwardly between Tommy and the side table and rubbing Tommy's back as Techno runs a hand through his hair, "and then we needed netherite and you already do so much, Wil, so I just wanted to help but I couldn't even do that," Tommy sounds like he wants to continue but his sobs are coming harsh enough that they keep him from speaking. 

"Tommy, listen," Techno pulls Tommy away slightly to look him in the eyes, "you already help so much. You didn't fuck up." Techno's never been one for words, but he hopes the short ones he can give will somehow make his little brother feel better. Tommy's still sniffling and sobbing too harshly for someone whos sick, however, so Techno gives Wilbur a look to which Wilbur turns Tommy slightly to face him. 

"Nobodies upset with you, Toms, you do so much to help. Thank you for fixing the beams, and getting the netherite, but that isn't worth it if it means it's hurting you, okay?" Wilbur stares at Tommy who's only gazing at his hands, which were now clenching and unclenching in his lap, "Tommy, look at me," Wilbur urges and Tommy looks up to meet his gaze. His eyes are still shiny with tears but ultimately he just looks exhausted, "come get me or Techno if you're not feeling well, and don't push yourself this far again, okay? For us," Wilbur watches as the words process in Tommy's mind and his eyes widen before he sniffles once more and nods slightly. "Good, good. Are you feeling any better, after taking the potion?" 

"Yeah," Tommy whispers out and his voice is still harsh from the cold and the crying, but he sounds a bit better than when he first woke up, " 'm tired." 

"Come here, Toms," Wilbur smiles softly and Tommy simply tips into his arms. Wilbur leans them back into the pillows and repositions them so they're tucked against each other, Tommy curled into his side with Wilbur wrapping one arm around his shoulders. Techno slowly slides his legs off the bed and starts to push himself off the bed before a weak grasp on his tunic stops him.

"Stay?" Tommy mumbles with sleeping pulling on his eyelids and Techno gives him a small smile.

"Of course," he chuckles before pulling himself back onto the bed. The three of them shuffle for a bit, trying to fit three 6ft or taller people onto a full-sized bed isn't easy, but they make it work. 

With Techno laying on his side, one arm underneath his head and the other draped over his brothers, Wilbur laying on his back with an arm under Tommy, and Tommy in between them with one hand on Wilbur's and the other on Techno's, the brother all get the best sleep they've had in months. And if Ponk comes back from his meeting earlier than expected and quietly snaps a picture, he doesn't mention it when they wake up; just quietly forwards it to a certain elytra-equipped man. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've written this chapter twice now lol, because originally this was going to be from Wilbur's POV, but then when I wrote that I really wanted to make Techno's POV, and then it was just getting WAY longer than what I wanted and very out of hand. So I scrapped that and now we have what I intended which is the first chapter being the hurt and the second being the comfort, both with Tommy's POV.  
> I'm not entirely happy with how this ended but I've written it like 20 times now so I'm going with this, which is the version I liked the most. I love hurt/comfort but I'm so bad at writing the comfort part lmao!   
> Never the less, I hope you all enjoyed this!! The recent streams have given me some angst ideas so look forward to those lol.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this! I love Tommy sickfics, but it seems like most of them are set IRL so I thought I'd throw a realistic-Minecraft one into the mix. I love the idea that in a realistic Minecraft setting each server is like its own world and people hop between them, with minigame servers being just fun competition and SMPs being serious and deadly, so that's how this one is set if anyone was wondering.
> 
> Also, I'm a mod on the amazing Qar's discord server! It's for fanfic writers and readers alike and it's an amazing community, so come join if that interests you!  
> https://discord.gg/phWk5WwXnF


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